


The Midnight Haunting

by warqueenfuriosa



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Ghosts, Halloween, Humor, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-09 17:14:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8901070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warqueenfuriosa/pseuds/warqueenfuriosa
Summary: "What’s dead stays dead. No one comes trippin’ out of their graves in the middle of the night, full moon or no.”“Then if it’s not true, Buck,” JD countered, leaning over the table. “Why won’t you agree to stay with me in the graveyard tonight?”





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [boogieshoes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/boogieshoes/gifts).



> For boogieshoes' prompt over on Dreamwidth's Mag7 community: All Seven; any; write a ghost/ horror story

“I dare you,” JD said.

Buck blew out a breath. “Come on, boy. You really think I’d fall for that kiddie stuff? I’m a grown man.”

JD just stared at him, eyebrows raised, waiting. Buck spread his hands.

“Why are you so hellbent on this?”

Ezra sighed and rolled his eyes. “Mr. Wilmington, surely you’ve heard the rumors everyone in this godforsaken town spreads like wildfire about old man McCreery and a full moon night, outlandish as it may sound.”

JD’s eyes lit up and he grinned. “McCreery climbs out of his grave and wanders the desert all night, groaning and moaning and howling like he’s possessed with a demon or somethin’, and then he takes anyone he comes across back to the grave with him to be _buried alive_.”

Buck made a face. “Bunch of hooey.”

“It’s rare that I say this,” Nathan said, “but…I agree with Buck.”

“Thank you, Nathan.”

Josiah pushed away from the bar and pulled up a chair, settling into it with a sigh and folding his hands across his stomach.

“The dead rising from their graves has held religious significance around the world for many cultures,” he said. “For some, it’s very serious business. The afterlife is not something to be toyed with.”

“But it’s not true,” Buck said, exasperated. “That’s the point I’m tryin’ to make here. What’s dead stays dead. No one comes trippin’ out of their graves in the middle of the night, full moon or no.”

“Then if it’s not true, Buck,” JD countered, leaning over the table. “Why won’t you agree to stay with me in the graveyard tonight?”

“Because I like my sleep! Besides, no offence kid, but there are far more interesting things that can happen on a full moon night in the company of a lady than with you in a cold, sandy graveyard.” His eyes lit up as he wiggled a little deeper into his chair at that thought, a smile growing on his face. “That full moon certainly does something to the ladies, I’ll admit that. Makes ‘em all…”

Inez slammed a glass of beer on the table in front of him, splashing beer into his lap. He hissed and scrambled to his feet, looking in dismay at the wet stain on the front of his pants.

“Damn it,” he grumbled.

“I would ask you kindly not to finish that sentence in my presence, senor,” Inez said with a tight smile. She glanced down at his wet pants and raised an eyebrow. “Sounds to me like you are afraid, senor Buck.”

“Afraid? Me?”

JD snickered into his glass of milk.

“No?” Inez said, feigning innocence. “Surely the ladies won’t miss you for one lonely night, will they?” She bit her lip and reached out to trace a finger down the line of buttons on Buck’s shirt. “In fact, it may just make them desire your company even more afterwards. Only a brave man would dare to face the deadly ghost that is old man McCreery.”

She smirked and swept away back behind the counter again.

Buck straightened, attempting to subtly cover the wet stain on his pants while not being obvious about it at the same time.

“JD,” he said. “You got yourself a deal.”

A few minutes later, after Buck had left to change his pants and JD had left to take his shift on watch, Inez slid a bottle of whisky onto the table with four glasses. She poured a glass for each man then one for herself and propped her elbows on the table.

“Gentlemen,” she said. “I have a business proposition for you.”

Ezra sat bolt upright and smiled. “As always, speaking my language, senorita. How may I be of service?”

“Would you care to do a little ghost hunting tonight?”

[][][]

“This is stupid,” Buck mumbled, tugging his coat tighter around himself. He pressed his back to a tombstone and drew his knees up against the chill of the night.

“It’s one night, Buck,” JD said, muffled with his nose buried in his coat collar. “You’ll survive.”

He inched closer to the lantern, practically pressing his hands to the glass in search of the tiniest scrap of warmth he could get.

“Don’t know how you talked me into this.”

“Got Inez to thank for that.”

“Inez,” Buck grunted. “Nice and cozy at home in her bed. _She_ ain’t out here.”

“You were the one who said you weren’t afraid of McCreery’s ghost and had to prove it.”

“Well what the hell was I supposed to say, kid? A woman like Inez Recillos questions your courage, a man doesn’t back down from that.”

“Of course not,” JD said with a shake of his head. “Anyway, once this is over, you won’t have to do it again.”

Buck pouted and folded his arms as he settled back against the tombstone again.

“Should have dragged Ezra’s ass out here too,” he grumbled. “Just for good measure.”

“Are you kidding? Ezra would complain the whole time. Make all of this even more miserable.”

Buck chuckled. “Can’t argue with that.”

JD sighed. “Has to be close to midnight by now, right? And still no ghosts. Casey will laugh at me for a week if she hears that I spent the entire night in a graveyard and didn’t see a single ghost.”

“Well, you should have thought of that before you so volunteered the both of us for…”

_Clink clink._

Buck went silent. JD sat up a little straighter, peering into the darkness.

“Did you hear that?” he whispered.

“No, kid, I didn’t hear the very loud sounds of chains in the middle of the night. Of course I heard it. Be quiet.”

Buck and JD stared into the darkness, eyes wide as if it would help them see better. They listened, barely breathing.

_Clink clink._

Buck scrambled to his feet, hand on his gun.

“Show yourself,” he called, his voice rolling like thunder in the silence. “Or I’ll shoot.”

A laugh echoed through the darkness, creeping around them like stalking wolves. Now JD was on his feet, back to back with Buck. He drew his pistols with a ghost-white knuckled grip to keep his hands from trembling.

“Who are you?” JD said, his words jumpy and wobbly.

“You already know, my boy,” came the raspy reply. “And since you’re in my graveyard, I’ve come to take you away.

“Oh god,” JD whispered. “Buck, it’s McCreery.”

“JD, shut up, for the love of all that is holy. It ain’t him. It can’t be. He’s dead.”

“You sure about that, Mr. Wilmington?”

A figure emerged in the distance, white rags swaying in the breeze, stooped in half over a rickety cane, a hood draped low over the figure’s face. Buck fired at the figure’s feet and it disappeared.

“See?” Buck said. “Trick of the light. Nothing to be….”

“Buck!”

JD aimed both guns in the opposite direction where the figure had reappeared, closer this time, shuffling towards them, rattling chains wrapped around its bony wrists.

“This is it,” JD said. “We’re gonna die. Oh, I never should have done this.”

“Quit it, JD!”

“But he’s right there!”

Buck fired again and this time, he didn’t miss. The figure vanished. The graveyard was silent, save for JD’s and Buck’s ragged breathing. After another minute had passed, Buck holstered his gun and picked up his saddle.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” he muttered. “Spendin’ the night out here just to get tricked and laughed at and…”

The figure had returned, standing in front of his horse, one gnarled old hand, pale as death, sweeping across the horse’s neck in a steady, soothing rhythm. Buck dropped his saddle, scrambling backwards and tripping over gravestones.

“No one will bother you while you sleep in the earth, Mr. Wilmington,” the figure said. “It’s quiet down there but awful lonely. Care to keep me company?”

The figure – McCreery, Buck corrected himself, there was no doubt about it now – stretched a withered arm out, reaching for him. Buck roared and took off, JD on his heels, running all the way back to Four Corners.

Inez pushed her hood back, triumphant. Ezra was laughing so hard, he could barely breathe and his face was flushed pink. Josiah and Nathan emerged from the distance and into the lamplight, patting each other on the back for a job well done.

“I’ll be honest, Ezra,” Josiah said. “Wasn’t sure the mirrors would work.”

“It was a gamble, I must say,” Ezra said, gasping for air and chuckling between his words. “But that was the best payoff I’ve ever had in my life. All thanks to Inez.”

Inez swept a curtsy and smiled. “I couldn’t have done it without…”

_Clink clink._

Inez’s smile vanished. Everyone went very, very still, listening, waiting. Ezra spun around, hand latching onto Nathan’s arm.

“What in God’s name is that?” he whispered.

In the distance, a small black figure crouched over a grave, keening softly.

“Nathan, Josiah, if this is your doing…” Ezra warned.

“It’s not,” Nathan said, his voice tight.

“We should go,” Inez said.

The four of them hurried out of the graveyard as quickly as they could, glancing over their shoulders, nervous and on edge, always checking to see that the dark figure hadn’t moved. But they could still hear the sobs, the wailing drifting across the shadow-stained desert.

“Are they gone?” Vin whispered, barely turning his head to the side where Chris lay in the dust on his stomach next to him, hidden by thin, scraggly bushes.

Chris raised his head, searching. “Yeah,” he said.

“Ezra looked about ready to shit himself.”

Chris and Vin snickered to themselves as they headed back to Four Corners.

In the morning, Buck and JD spun an elaborate tale of how they ran off the ghost of old man McCreery. Inez, Ezra, Nathan and Josiah rolled their eyes and told their own story of how Buck and JD came careening into town like the devil himself was after them.

Chris and Vin just smiled at each other across the table.

 


End file.
